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I have reinstalled Dropbox. Now it wants to start downloading all my files in my userprofile/dropbox. But there's already a completely downloaded Dropbox folder in E:/Dropbox/. I've been trying to find a setting in which I can point the Dropbox app to the existing location, but all I can find is a "move dropbox" setting. This setting does not allow me to select the existing location as it "already contains a Dropbox".

I really don't want to download all these files again, as I already have them on my computer. How can I point the dropbox app to the existing location?

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  • 1
    What version of Dropbox are you using? The beta 3.3.34 should be able to handle moves more eloquently. Unfortunately, if you re-install Dropbox and you have a lot of files (e.g. 1TB), it may take a long time to validate all the files.
    – Sun
    Mar 2, 2015 at 16:55

2 Answers 2

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I've found a way around it.

Just rename the existing Dropbox folder to 'Dropbox_' or similar. Pause Dropbox sync, set the location to the same folder, and click apply/ok. Delete that newly created folder and rename 'Dropbox_' back to 'Dropbox'.

It's a bit sucky you got to do that but it does prevent having to re-download everything you already have. Alternatively, make the folder, and just copy paste your entire old-dropbox files into the new one. If it's on a different hard drive then that would take a while anyways.

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  • Indeed, I believe that's how I solved it back then. A bit late, but I'll mark as accepted.
    – Forza
    Nov 30, 2015 at 16:46
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So your problem is, you already had a Dropbox folder then somehow 'Dropbox' got delinked now you want to link it back using your credential. But after you log in, it is creating a new folder in the default location and started to download the contents there. You want not to download all the content rather redirect it to an existing location.

Steps:

  1. Open the 'Dropbox' program.
  2. Log in to your Dropbox account.
  3. Once logged in, don't click on the 'Open my Folder' option. If you click then it will start to download your Dropbox content in the default location.
  4. Click the 'advanced setting' at the bottom of that window. Change the location there.
  5. Now click 'Open my folder'. It will check the existing content and only update the new files.
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    To clarify, you have to select the parent folder of the Dropbox folder, because otherwise it will sync the files to `..\Dropbox\Dropbox`. Also, in case you have already started syncing to the wrong folder, just sign out, and sign in again, and then follow the instructions from this answer. The new dropbox folder which you didn't want, can then be safely deleted.
    – user419144
    Feb 19, 2020 at 19:07

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